Abstract

Directional drilling involves guiding a borehole along a predefined path with high precision. This process forms a distributed cyber-physical system in which surface and downhole subsystems are connected via the drill string. Automating this process is challenging because surface and downhole components communicate over a low-bandwidth, time-delayed channel. Together with process uncertainties, these constraints hinder accurate modeling and limit conventional model-based control. Existing automation focuses on downhole steering, while surface inputs, despite their influence on steerability, are typically adjusted manually. We propose an application-oriented, hierarchical dual-actuator control architecture that coordinates communication-limited steering control with fast but hard-to-predict surface actuation. The approach combines a conventional steering controller with a data-driven, surrogate-based two-degree-of-freedom surface controller and an event-based, communication-aware decision logic to determine when steering updates should be downlinked and when surface adjustments suffice. High-fidelity simulations demonstrate improved reference tracking and fewer steering downlinks compared to steering-only automation, highlighting the benefits of coordinated surface–steering actuation under realistic drilling constraints.

Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11625395